Shoe-tying device



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Patented Sept. 1924-.

UNITED STATES HENRY S. KEYES, OF LCS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

SHOE-TYING DEVICE.

Application led December 7, 1922. Serial No. 605,484.

(FILED UNDER THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 1883, 22 STAT. L., 625.)

T 0 all whom t may concern.:

Be it known that I, HENRY S. KEYES, major, Medical Reserve Corps, acitizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, Calif., haveinvented an Improvement in Shoe-Tying Devices, of which the following isa specilication.

The invention described herein may be used by the Government, or any ofits officers or employees in prosecution of work for the Government, orby any other person in the United States, without payment of any royaltythereon.

This invention relates to improved means for securing without tying theupper ends of shoe laces or the like.

The object being to provide quickly applied means to the ordinary shoewhereby the upper ends of the shoe laces will be retained in position byfriction instead of tying.

Similar numerals indicate corresponding parts in all the gures of thedrawings in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of the upper portion of a shoe, showing theimproved lace retaining means applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the upper of a shoe, further illustrating theapplication of the improved retaining means.

Fig. 3 is a detail view, showing one manner of retaining the end of oneof the shoe laces.

Figs. a, 5 and 6 are details, showing a modilied arrangement of theauxiliary eyelets.

Reference now being had to the drawings by numerals, l indicates aportion of the ordinary shoe, 2 the laces, and 3 the usual eyeletsarranged along the adjoining edges of the shoe.

Ordinarily after the shoe lace has been passed through the two uppereyelets, it is brought across the front and tied in a double bow-knot.lWhen anything is worn over the upper part of the shoe, such as a legginin Army use, said knot becomes uncomfortable, owing to its being pressedinto the shin bone.

In the present invention, the upper edge of the shoe is provided with aplurality of eyelets l on both sides, preferably about in line with theupper eyelet usually worn at the top of the shoe.

The additional eyelets 4 are of the usual construction, and are arrangedapproximately one-half inch apart, and the shoe lace may pass throughthe upper eyelet from the outside, or from the inside, and from there beinterlaced or staggered through the eyelets along the top, it beingfound more satisfactory when three additional eyelets are added to passthe lacing inwardly through the upper eyelet, thus bringing the end ofthe shoe lace with the usual metal threading means outside of the shoeafter passing through the last eyelet.

Should it be found advisable and practicable to use only two auxiliaryeyelets along the top of the slice, it may be found preferable to passthe shoe lace through the upper hole from the inside outwardly, fromthere across the outside through the first auxiliary eyelet into theshoe, and then outwardly through the second auxiliary eyelet, thusleaving the threading point in that instance outside of the shoe, andavoid any irritation that it might otherwise cause if permitted to comein contact with the leg of the wearer.

By actual test this devicel has proved to be highly etlicient, andappears to be as effective when the lacing is tightly drawn as whensomewhat loose,-in fact the tighter the upper portion of the shoe isdrawn around the ankle of the wearer, the greater the friction that willbe applied to prevent the lacing drawing backward, and loosening theshoe, it being seen that the lacing traverses the eyelets in a somewhatdiagonal manner that owing to the stiffness of the shoe causes theeyelets to bite into the lac-ing and prevent it slipping. In addition tothis, the leg of the wearer tends to stretch the shoe, and therebyfurthe-r grip the lacing, and also to force the lacing which lies withinthe shoe againstthe inner surface of the shoe, a further addition to thetendency to firmly hol-d the lacing.

In Fig. 3 of the drawings is shown one of a variety of means forsecuring the end of the shoe lace when it passes inwardly through thelast of the auxiliary eyelets. Fig. l shows a slightly modifiedarrangement of the auxiliary eyelets and a means for securing the end ofthe shoe lace beneath the shoe string on the outer face of the shoe.Figs. 5 and 6 show further modified arrange ments of the auxiliaryeyelets. In these three instances, provision is made as in Fig. 3 forretaining the end of the shoe lace beauxiliary eyelets, arranged instaggered relation to each other, at alternating angles to cause partsof the lacing to rest on the inside of the shoe and intermediate partsof the lacing to rest on the outside of the shoe at alternating angles,to prevent slipping of the shoe lace.

HENRY S. KEYES.

